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Kumari’s puppies are now four months old, and from this lovely litter of seven golden retriever puppies, three females have been selected to be kept back for North Star’s evolving breeding and therapy programs, with the remaining four male pups assigned to children who are on the...

The idea behind Dreamcatcher began as a simple wish to provide a means of communication for people struggling with brain impairments and mental health issues to express themselves effectively. Eileen Bona, the founder of Dreamcatcher, sat down for an interview to further explain the inspiration...

Looking for an excited workout buddy? Then there is no need to look further than your pet
dog. It is a win-win situation for both dog and owner in maintaining a healthy
lifestyle and simply involves a walk around the block. It is a quick and easy
way to get active and one would be hard pressed...

We’re greeting the new year with a new newsletter, new log in options, and lots of new content!
The first issue of the HABRI Central Newsletter, a monthly e-mail newsletter, has shipped to users who have signed up to receive it. The newsletter contains information on the latest resources...

HABRI Central Reviews are book reviews with an interdisciplinary spin. Our views about a certain subject tend to be influenced by our own experiences and education. An interdisciplinary approach that uses multiple perspectives can better help us to understand complex concepts. The goal of this...

by Patty
Dobbs Gross
North Star
Kumari delivered seven healthy puppies on October 4th, 2012. Four of
these puppies will be serving children on the autism spectrum as autism
assistance dogs; the remaining three will be kept back to be evaluated for
breeding to continue this quality line.
North...

All of us involved with trying to understand our relationship with animals have benefitted from Dr. Robert K. Anderson, known by most simply as RK. I do not remember when I first met RK, as our lives overlapped in both public health and the founding of the Delta Society. Leo Bustad asked each of...

At a Snail’s Pace
Some people prefer to read only specific kinds of books related
to certain kinds of human and animal interactions. Perhaps only heady academic
tomes. Or fiction, or only those involving dogs or cats and humans interacting
with each other in specific ways. My
tastes tend to be...

A new update to HABRI Central brings major improvements to several areas of the site.
New search options are available for the HABRI Central Bibliography. General searches now look through a greater number of metadata fields (e.g., author, title, publication date, etc.) and results can now be...

by Patty Dobbs Gross
'North Star's Hero with his boy Joel at Disneyland.'
We should take a moment here to first review the various
therapeutic roles that a dog can play in a child with autism’s life to help them
to reach their social, emotional and educational goals, as only then can we...

by Patty Dobbs Gross
The years tell us much of what the days never know. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
'Aaron and North Star's Bingo meeting for the very first time.'
Anecdotally speaking, we have known that a dog can be a
valuable therapeutic tool since Jingles did his thing with a progressive...

by Patty Dobbs Gross
'Danny & Madison'
Of the top five myths about autism assistance dogs that I will cover in this column, this myth is by far the most dangerous. If you partially believe in this emerging field, at least enough to attempt to create an autism assistance dog partnership with a...

Every month for more than a decade I’ve posted a commentary to my website ( www.mmilani.com ) the majority of which deal with some facet of animal health, behavior the human-animal bond, and the inextricable interaction of the three. For the past 4 years or so, I’d added weekly podcasts to the...

Children with autism can have difficulty fitting into social
settings and reading people. Empathy is often hard to cultivate. Research has
indicated that in some cases, children with autism are able to connect with
animals in a way that is difficult for them to do with people (see this resource...

by Patty Dobbs Gross
I get by with a little help from my friends. ~ John Lennon ''David and North Star's Lego''
One of the biggest misunderstandings about the emerging field of autism assistance dogs is that it is all about the training of the dog to be partnered with the...

(This is will be the first story in a series about volunteering at a parrot rescue. I find that my experiences reflect research done in the human and animal bond field. I also wanted to highlight some of the people, parrots, and concerns and benefits of parrot care.)
When describing Phoebe, all...

by Patty Dobbs Gross
We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another. ~ Lucretius
'Marques and North Star's Boots'
Rescuing a child as well as a dog can be a compelling
misconception when creating an assistance dog placement for a child on the
autism...

This article is a follow up to Therapy Dogs in the Legal System (article here). Scott Baggett attended the Florida Victim Advocacy Conference
to meet with other therapy dog program leaders and interested parties in July
of 2012.
While the conference focused on many aspects of victim
advocacy,...

Elise Rothman d’Hauthuille is a consultant for nonprofit organizations. Before this, she used to work to make companies as profitable as possible “by creating dynamic sales
teams coupled with analytic strategies and viable budgeting projections.”
Taking a break from for profit work,...